The main issue with the glitch was the accidental exposure of sensitive competitor information. Between July 30 and July 31, 2024, a small number of advertisers could view unrelated item IDs, product titles, and Merchant Center information from other accounts. This breach allowed advertisers to identify direct competitors by searching through the exposed product titles, raising significant privacy and competitive fairness concerns.
Furthermore, the Products, Product Groups, and Listing Groups pages were down across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor. This outage prevented advertisers from accessing essential performance data, including insights into competitors’ products and advertising strategies.
Although the exposed data did not include personal information, it provided valuable insights into competitors’ advertising methods, potentially giving some advertisers an unfair advantage. This incident underscored severe issues regarding data security and the possibility of unethical business practices.
Google acknowledged the problem and is actively working to resolve it. Ginny Marvin, a Google Ads liaison, mentioned on X (formerly Twitter) that the team is “actively looking into” the issue and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
However, the company has not provided detailed information about the cause of the glitch or the number of affected users.
In response to this incident, some advertising agencies have started encrypting sensitive information within client accounts to prevent future breaches. As of August 4, 2024, Google reported via its dashboard and product liaison handle on X that while some accounts might still be impacted, services have been fully restored to other accounts. For accounts not affected by this issue, all reporting services have been restored.
Google has assured users that it is continuing efforts to restore reporting services for the Report Editor and the Products tab for affected accounts. They promised to provide further updates as more information becomes available and to reach out directly to all impacted customers with details on the incident.
Advertisers are advised to be cautious when accessing their Google Ads accounts and to avoid acting on any data until Google confirms that the issue is fully resolved. The ongoing efforts by Google to restore all reports online are a positive step towards re-establishing data security and confidence in the platform.
